THE HYMNAL COMPANION TO THE Book of Common Prayer. Cantate Domino. SECOND EDITION. London: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY, Ld. St. Dunstan's House FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. [All rights reserved.] Preface. THIS Hymnal is designed to be a companion to "The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church." The tables of Contents correspond. The Order of the Ecclesiastical year is observed. The hymns are ranged under those divisions of the Prayer-book, with which their subjects most easily coalesce. It is humbly submitted to the consideration of those whom the compilers of our Liturgy address in their preface, namely, "the sober, peaceable, and truly conscientious sons of the Church of England,” as a Hymnal in unison with the sound doctrine of our Prayer-book, and fitted to the comprehensive framework of its services; as containing those valuable hymns and translations which have become so deservedly popular during the last twenty years; as affording sufficient variety of hymns without the encumbrance of those seldom or never used; and, lastly, as accompanied with a selection of the best music. The Annotated Edition consists of three parts: (1) An Introduction explaining the principles on which the compilation is made from the most representative Church Hymn-books carefully collated, (2) The Hymnal, (3) Notes to every hymn, giving the name of the author and the approximate date when it was written, and justifying any variations allowed, though the effort has been, as far as possible, to cleave to the original téxt. The Musical Edition contains those venerable tunes of the English Church which have been so long and justly prized, and, through the kind courtesy of their authors and proprietors, a very large number of these modern or revived compositions which have made the last few years an era in Church music, and also several valuable original tunes now first offered for the service of the sanctuary. The revised and enlarged Tune-book was issued under the musical editorship of the late eminent organist, J. T. Cooper, Esq., and passed under the critical eye of E. J. Hopkins, Esq., organist of the Temple Church. A reference to the names of the authors of the tunes, or to the sources from which they are taken, will prove that nearly all are the work of our first composers, or have the sanction of the highest musical authorities. The Chant-Book Companion to the Book of Common Prayer, compiled on the same principles as the Musical Edition of the Hymnal, has been recently issued under the Editorship of Charles Vincent, Esq., Mus. Bac. Oxon, and contains upwards of six hundred chants for the Canticles, Daily Psalms, Kyries, &c., and also for such other portions of the Liturgy as are appointed to be said or sung. May it only be vouchsafed those who have prepared, and those who shall use, this manual of praise to join hereafter the choir of those harpers harping with their harps, as they sing that new song before the Throne, which none can learn but those who are redeemed from the earth. E. H. B. |